Retrograde Venus

Venus retrogrades from July 27, 2007 to September 08, 2007. This can be an important time for those seeking greater self-awareness. It is a time for re-evaluation.

We take note of this placement because it is a relatively uncommon one. Venus remains direct for all but six weeks out of every eighteen months. These retrograde periods are best used as times of re-evaluation related to the signs being transited and/or periods for examining and revising our own value systems. At such times it will be important to notice that what is valuable to an infant, a child, an adolescent, may be of little worth to an adult. Values and value systems are intended to remain alive–to change and grow, even as we mature and evolve.

Venus’ symbolism is often poorly understood. It is commonly called the planet of Love, but love is also widely misunderstood and overshadowed by romanticism. Romantic literature, and especially the movie industry, have taught millions to expect something never meant to be more than an entertaining ideal, to manifest in their daily lives. The misunderstanding is the product of romance literature which is designed to take us away from reality and give us a break, a rest, from daily life. The romantic notion of chemistry is more closely related to the Moon and our feelings of need than it is to Venus. This expectation of happily-ever-after has caused great emotional pain to many. While it would seem that we should be able to learn from joy, the truth is that, at our current evolutionary level, most learning is accompanied by growing pains.

In its purest sense, to love is to value. We value those things and people that add comfort and pleasure to our lives–things that look good, feel good, taste good, etc. As the planet of love, Venus describes our natural sense of what is good for/to us. The energy involved in this is magnetism, so Venus will–when our value systems are clear–naturally attract that which is best for us to have.

Personal Venus

Natal Venus describes our inherent sense of values, including our feeling of worthiness or unworthiness. Some of us have primarily physical/earth values, others have primarily emotional/water values, mental/spacial/air values, or spiritual/fire values. Venus’ natal sign is selected according to the overall design of the current lifetime, to support our incarnational intent.

Natal Venus is not about what we have been taught to think that we should value, or what was valuable to our parents, priests or teachers. It is a purely personal description of what best contributes to the comfort and pleasure of our true (spiritual) nature. Astrology students may find it quite interesting to compare natal Venus to the natal second house of learned values.

When natal Venus is retrograde, we may feel unloved or devalued. This drives many to pay a high price in service to others, from the intent that others should not feel so unloved and alone as we do. The final lesson is to realize that we are loved and valued by many–just not the people generally expected to love us.


The Generic Venus Transit

The retrograde begins at two degrees Virgo, starting the reevaluation of Virgo. Venus in Virgo is often uncomfortable, for it tends toward emotional fastidiousness, sometimes fearing to touch that which might prove most valuable to her. She wants to sanitize and purify love, to love perfectly. If s/he does not realize her own inner perfection, she may think that she needs to handle attractions with great care. Given the old standards of belief about both Venus and Virgo, there could be no better place to begin a reevaluation. Love and values do require attention and sometimes effort, but they should never be such hard work as Virgo sometimes makes them.

The underlying truth of this placement is that it signifies perfect love. Virgo Venus instinctively knows what is of real value to her true nature and path. The problem lies in the fact that her true and perfect path is sufficiently different from the one taught by parents, religion, or other teachers, to make different things, different relationships, truly valuable/Venus and useful/Virgo. Virgo Venus must purify her value system, excluding all faux-values that are attached to terms like guilt and duty.


On August 10, 2007, Venus drops Virgo and backs into the more-playful and child-like sign of Leo. Leo relates to a developmental stage common to children. During this period, children practice adulthood by playing lets-pretend games. Such lets pretend games are closely related to the romantic games that adult playmates indulge in. The realization needed is that most of the romance is mere pretense. Each person pretends to be what he or she thinks that the other wants them to be. But if the relationship continues over time, or evolves into commitment, the ability to continue pretending to be Prince Charming or Lady Love diminishes, fading to nothing. The only real solution is to spend enough time together, being true and honest, to discover what each has to contribute to the comfort and pleasure of the other. An honest evaluation is the key to lasting union.

Something similar often happens in other areas, especially financial ones. All too often an immature sense of finances carries over into our adult lives. Some try to put on a show of affluence that cannot be maintained. Others work entirely too hard at maintaining a standard of living that has no real relevance to their true being.

The great gift of Leo Venus is innocence, for Leo is intended to remind us that we are good girls and boys. It tells us that we are innocent, the beloved sons and daughters of Deity. It reminds us that, by virtue of our spiritual DNA, we are uncondemned–perfect, whole and complete. Physical parents are sometimes abusive, but spiritual parents never are!

Venus will continue in Leo, backing down to the sixteenth degree, where it stations and turns direct on September 8, 2007. If all goes well, Venus will act on the new awareness gained as she again crosses the second half of Leo and re-enters Virgo on October 9, 2007. With a bit of luck, or wisdom, by then we will have reclaimed enough innocence to realize that we are–one and all–the perfect us, and that we love perfectly. If this be so, the continuing transit of Virgo may hand us many good things!

© Alice Miller, all rights reserved
If you find this of interest, you might like Retrogrades and Consciousness, which presents a unique approach to natal retrograde planets. It is available at www.lifeprintastrology.com

Leo

Leo is the sign which most clearly expresses the essential qualities of the Sun. In Leo, the activating principle is radiation expressed as creativity. We inherit creativity from our Creator-Father.

Always visible, Leo factors are dramatic and play a starring role. They are where our Spiritual Self expresses as inherent talent. They naturally radiate energy into the environment, lighting things up.

Other meanings of Leo are metaphors derived from the idea of its being active; i.e., an act can be a performance or a role, from which it gets the idea of drama or being dramatic. A drama is a play, so Leo rules play, especially the "lets pretend" variety that allows us to try out new roles in development or in life. Personal planets in Leo will act their way through.

Being Sun-ruled, Leo is bright, a star. Being Sun-like also implies that one is a son or royal heir of the god and/or goddess. Leo has inherent abilities and talents, things it can do because it is born to do them. The Christian term "Son of God" is strongly linked to the sign Leo.

When childhood is less than optimal, Leos learn to use their acting ability as a survival tool. When their moral education also includes judgments against pretending to be something not essentially true, natives may live in a great deal of pain. This can lead to addiction, or other illness. It is so important that these understand that all talents are given for use and that Deity makes no judgments on them. Neither should we. If you have acting talent, and it works for you in any way, use it. Then say thanks to the One who gave it to you.

The real gift of Leo is the ability to command life with the expectation that it will obey--not because the ability has been learned or the right earned, but because it is inherited or inherent, as a talent or a legal right. Leos create most easily by acting as if, especially as if they had a right to expect what they want and need. They do.

Natives can also become more or less visible by visualizing themselves as having and using a rheostat to control the level of brilliance. And yes, Leos are brilliant, at least in some areas. They perform well. In the houses containing Leo, especially on the cusp, they may need to consciously play a role. The house activity is something that they can do most easily by pretending to be what is needed to make both the ego-drama and the life role work.

Planets in Leo

Leo planets are highly creative, playing a significant role in our lives. They will dramatize according to the nature of the planet, making those planets highly visible.

EXAMPLES: Leo Saturn will have highly visible boundaries. Jupiter will show brilliance at figuring things out. Venus may be artistic brilliance.

Leo planets are active, and expressive, according to their nature--meaning the quality or quantity or activity of the planet. This is like saying that the light will be blue or green, bright or pale, or that the warmth will be within a certain temperature range or that it will be constant, recurring, and/or cyclic.

You may then expect planets or points in Leo to be highly visible, to attract attention from aware beings--both those who love the light and warmth and those who hate it. Therefore, the Leo area of the chart will be active, simply because it is hard to hide or forget. It attracts certain reactions from others. However, if you understand it as an area of talent, and one where you can be--and have the right to be--an actor or actress, you will learn to temporarily assume roles that will not threaten less evolved audiences.